As if landing nearly half a million dollars in instant crowd funding isn't sufficient, Pirate3D announced a significant charitable venture. They will provide 3D printing technology and training to "selected African institutions".

The venture is within Pirate3D's corporate social responsibility program and partners with Harvard's Calestous Juma to promote sustainable development worldwide. Juma, Director of the Science, Technology & Globalization Project in Harvard Kennedy School said:

Youths should be given the opportunities to appreciate emerging technologies such as 3D technologies and apply their creativity to develop innovative products.

We believe this is the first 3D printing charitable venture to arrive on humanity's original continent. While there have been other very generous support projects provided by several 3D printing companies, the efforts tend to be "near home".

Africa may have missed out on mass manufacturing success in the twentieth century, but perhaps they can get a head start on mass customization in the twenty-first.

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has been writing Fabbaloo posts since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!

Fabbaloo is a daily online publication focusing on the 3D print and additive manufacturing industries. We provide deeper analysis of developments in current and future technologies as well as corporate matters. If there’s something happening in 3D technologies, especially FDM, SLA, SLS and Stereolithography, we’ll have an opinion about it.